Editorial: U.S. housing crisis isn't fixing itself

(AP Photo by Reed Saxon) A vacant home is surrounded by a chain link fence carrying a "bank owned" sign and ads from local tradespeople Tuesday in Los Angeles. The dismal results of the Obama administration's mortgage aid program are raising doubts about whether the government can fix the housing crisis.

Remember when the White House had a plan to revive the nation's moribund housing market? Remember when the nation actually had something of a housing market?

Both seem so long ago, don't they?

At long last comes news that the Obama administration has been looking at ways to get home sales moving again. Officials are still in the planning stages, but at least they haven't forgotten entirely.

Because almost anything the White House suggests on housing - or on anything else, for that matter - is likely to meet with immediate resistance from Republicans in Congress, the president has been considering proposals that wouldn't need congressional approval.

One proposal being floated would allow mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to fund investors looking to buy foreclosed properties. Another plan would see Fan and Fred renting out some of the foreclosed homes they already own. There's also been talk of how best to help people whose homes are valued below the total they still owe on their mortgage.

There are obvious critiques of each: The feds should not be funding investors, some assert. Fannie and Freddie shouldn't be turned into national landlords. Helping those who are in over their heads will only prolong the problem.

While none of these arguments is completely without merit, one simple question quickly trumps them all: How has doing nothing at all been working?

The housing market, some have long argued, needs to settle out on its own. Just leave it alone and it will fix itself.

Apparently not.

Our nation's housing market is in critical care. Its structure - complex, convoluted, interconnected - does not allow a hands-off approach. There are many ways to critique the structure, to lay blame for the creation of the bubble that burst in 2008.

First, though, it makes sense to try to breathe some life into the market.